I hope no teenagers (AKA 'The Great Unwashed') have been reading the Hot Bath observations; they can now point out that sitting slumped in front of the TV (unwashed) for a fortnight is as green as having only one bath. I forsee major domestic issues here...

Don't worry, Bob. It's also a quality of life indicator. My figures suggest that the US energy use for 1999 (the last year I could reliably get in a few minutes' googlin') equates to 1 HB per capita every twenty minutes.

And yes, Rakhir, that is the energy to orbit. Not much. Just "difficult".

The solar probe Helios 2 was the fastest travelling spacecraft ever, at about 69 km/s relative to the Sun. I do not think any outer solar system probes in near future could have a higher speed.End quote.

Well, the NH webpages "advertised" the spacecraft as being the fastest ever launched... maybe they only count the time to reach the Moon

The fastest spacecraft ever launched, New Horizons will make its closest pass to Jupiter on Feb. 28, 2007. Jupiter's gravity will accelerate New Horizons away from the sun by an additional 9,000 miles per hour, pushing it past 52,000 mph and hurling it toward a pass through the Pluto system in July 2015.

It is the craft to leave Earth with the highest relative velocity, but my understanding is that became moot not too long after launch. I was told by a couple of the project guys that NH will never catch Voyager (1 at least), however I'm not sure I see why as NH is currently travelling at the highest speed away from the sun of any spacecraft escaping the solar system.

It is the craft to leave Earth with the highest relative velocity, but my understanding is that became moot not too long after launch. I was told by a couple of the project guys that NH will never catch Voyager (1 at least), however I'm not sure I see why as NH is currently travelling at the highest speed away from the sun of any spacecraft escaping the solar system.

This may help--

NH is the fastest to Jupiter owing to its high C3 and orbit design. V1 and V2 each had multiple giant planet GA's; NH only has one (JGA). Result: V1 and V2, by virtue of their multiple GA boosts, out run NH.

Great stuff, Doug. Jupiter is very cool-looking. I want one for my living room. But where would I put it?

The periodic storms around the northern belt (especially) are so numerous, and the animation just choppy enough, that I perceive a (false) reverse rotation, the way that helicopter blades seem to go in reverse on TV.

And yes, Rakhir, that is the energy to orbit. Not much. Just "difficult".

Yep -- while the energy costs to get "up the hill" are high, they're not much higher, relatively, than a lot of other things. For example, I've seen numbers that say a fully-fueled 747 has enough energy available, in its fuel tanks, to put the plane into orbit. It takes that much energy to fly a 747 halfway across the globe. But in flying at airliner speeds, the 747 releases the total energy much more slowly than needed to accelerate to orbital velocity.

If you could expend all of the energy in a 747's tanks in about six or seven minutes, you could, indeed, put it into orbit... (shades of Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers!)

-the other Doug

--------------------

“The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain

If you could expend all of the energy in a 747's tanks in about six or seven minutes, you could, indeed, put it into orbit... (shades of Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers!)

Unfortunately there are other complications. A 747 doesn't have to take oxidant along and it's engines need only function in a narrow speed range (subsonic). If someone would please invent a multicycle engine that can morph from turbofan to ramjet to scramjet to rocket then SSTO (and back) wouldn't be too difficult.

NH is the fastest to Jupiter owing to its high C3 and orbit design. V1 and V2 each had multiple giant planet GA's; NH only has one (JGA). Result: V1 and V2, by virtue of their multiple GA boosts, out run NH.

-Alan

Thanks. NH is currently travelling faster than V1/V2 relative to the sun. I assume there will be some slowing on its outbound journey from Jupiter's graivty. Does that mean it will wind up slower than them once again by March-April or so?

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